Month: January 2023

P 2135 Wake up! This is no time to sleep in the light.

/ DVH

As the Body of Christ in this world, we must stop trying to pray away the kind of stuff we need to fight our way through, and start using our faith to tell those mountains to MOVE. The power we use to get free, is the power we have at hand to prevail on the battlefield. That battlefield is right outside our doors, and sometimes sadly, even inside them. Only a bad, uncaring commander would send untrained, inexperienced soldiers out into the field, to fight a rampant, cunning, and deceitful enemy. The Lord Jesus is not that sort of commander! However, do not fall into the trap of dismissing satan lightly. We know our side HAS already won, but, sadly, the other guy’s biggest strategies have been entrenched inside our gates. The Body has gone to sleep, in the light.

The Captain of the hosts is Jesus Christ and He is the most brilliant leader ever, because He leads by example. He does not simply issue instructions and sit back and wait for us to follow them – He faced humanity’s battles daily, like we do. He showed us how to continually walk in love. Jesus Christ did not live a separate and aloof life, instead He lived with ordinary people every single day and He constantly demonstrated God’s power everywhere He went. Plus He personally illustrated and taught people Who Our Heavenly Father really is. The biggest battle we will ever face is to remove the enemy’s lies from within our own thinking.

The way the world is lately, it has become very easy to forget about love, and to spend our time concentrating on our own survival instead. But we have the Holy Spirit to help us and He is the most incredible strategist this world will ever know! We must understand God’s ways far better than the stuff going on around us so we can discern what is good right and just, and what is hot air and a waste of our time. We are stronger than we realise – because “greater is He within us .”… 

God does not set us up to be defeated by our difficulties. Instead those things that assault us have been allowed, to train us in righteousness. The bible needs to so penetrate our souls right down  “into the joints and marrow,” that our first response is to trust Him. That’s intimacy! We have SomeOne Who knows about the good the bad and the ugly around us – as well as within us – and yet He loves and will NOT leave us! He won’t indulge us, but He will lead, protect, guide and shelter us and ‘train our hands for war…”. This is our time to  learn how to march behind Jesus in our appointed place in His body.

God is looking for our obedience to His already revealed ways in His book. It’s not like we have to guess, anything we ever need to know is in the bible. Our biggest problem is we want to pre-design the answers to our prayers. If we read the bible carefully, we will soon see, particularly in the Old Testament, that God’s answers to prayer did not look the way His people thought they would. He can get us through the maze of our own thoughts, wishes, hopes and dreams into a much, much wider place than we have ever dreamt about. BUT … we simply must stop trying to program what we think His responses will look like. Our minds are limited, because we are finite, so when we submit, obey and follow the limitless One, our whole perspective changes. 

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)

This Scripture holds a huge importance to us as His Body.  It is the basis for any evangelism and missions, plus it is a call to our own personal responsibility. It is a command to go forth to all nations and spread the gospel. How? Fearlessly – because we know He will be with us.  Our job is to…’triumph over our enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.’ (Revelation 12:11). That’s what a witness does, they testify. Death is no longer our enemy. Like Esther said to Mordecai : “If I die, I die! … WIN WIN!” OK. we both know she didn’t say that, like that, but she lived thousands of years ago. Boy has our language changed since Esther.

Our Church cultures have become careless, now we think going to church Sunday by Sunday, or whatever day you go on, is doing our bit.  We want the benefits of knowing Him, but not the sacrifices.  Plus we have been deceived in our thinking that living for Christ only is for ‘special’ people … famous ones. The Western Body of Christ has been lulled into thinking it is OK for us to live in safety and comfort, because we are not meant to suffer for the Gospel’s sake – we’ll just pray for the ones who ARE suffering – that’s our job. Sadly, we pray and give and live removed lives. Discomfort is meant to tell us something – we must listen, pay attention, and wake up! Our enemy is upon us and we’ve been lulled asleep in the light. It’s time to take back what the enemy has stolen from us …PEOPLE! 👋🏻

“So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will flee in agony.”James 4:7 TPT

P 2134 How old are we, again?

/ DVH

“Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honour. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.

When I was a child, I spoke about childish matters, for I saw things like a child and reasoned like a child. But the day came when I matured, and I SET ASIDE my childish ways. For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face. My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood. Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.”  1 Corinthians  13:4-13 TPT

Here is a further point from that same chapter -V31b: “And now I will show you a superior way to live that is beyond comparison …”  That verse comes under the heading: ‘LOVE IS INDISPENSABLE.’  Hmmm. All this could need a great deal of thought and prayer. I put the biggest part of this chapter in Corinthians here today because we need to constantly revise what love looks like to Father God. We don’t get to define it, He does. And just because we don’t always feel like it, that doesn’t mean He didn’t give it! ✝️ We will have to exercise our faith.

However, love does not look like tolerating someone. Sometimes the childish things we bring into adulthood, come from inter-personal attitudes we’ve developed over the years from having to deal with difficult people who did not want to change. Maybe they did not understand us, or we did not understand them … and yet we need to still interact with them. Some of us will want to fight with them, and others are resigned to letting them win because, sigh, it seems like they always do. Suffice to say neither of those responses qualify as the kind of love the Lord is looking for! What to do? Choose to grow up! Realise that your bad temper or pouting as a child had a limited shelf-life …a-n-d …determine in your heart to put it away. The Holy Spirit will help you, but He won’t do it for you!

Just because your teacher, parent, pastor, youth leader hadn’t met someone like you before, that does not mean you must remain stuck back there with that kind of disapproval from the past. Hold the Holy Spirit’s hand and walk out of that childish place, forgiving these people with every single step you take. However, don’t be like many people  who are constantly being healed from their past, but they never actually arrive at being whole in the present! Sometimes you’ve just got to be bigger than that other person! That’s what maturity looks like, and it can hurt like crazy. But otherwise you will stay stuck in the prison that someone else designed for you, to keep you under control, and you will give up your God-given freedom to bloom where He planted you. 

There is nothing sadder than a mature person with childish manipulations and attitudes. Our new life of love is not meant to be controlled by anyone but Jesus. And He started out as a baby and then He grew up to be a MAN. He had plenty happen to Him that He could have let limit His personhood! Somewhere in there Jesus Christ, who started His life as a poor refugee, and went on to become the family bread winner, who was raised by a single mother. Let the bible decide who you are, not your feelings.

The Lord’s kind of Love is a tall order and it isn’t weak or able to be manipulated. Jesus believed in absolutes so He didn’t tack codicils onto the end of the laws given by Moses! Things like: “Of course you are exempt from being  changed because your parent didn’t care about you when you were little. Poor you.” God saved us because He loved us like 1 Corinthians 13 says, and the cross was His final word on that subject. I’ve seen so many bright and shiny Christian stars fall from the sky because they did not learn to deal with themselves. It takes humility to put away the past and be changed, and it will continue to take humility until we die. Learning to be humble is not fun…

… and forgiving the people who hurt you is just the beginning. After that we have to go past forgiveness and march right on into God’s kind of Love – by our choices. We are so blessed to have an on-the-spot Helper Who knows how to get us there! Father God daily gives us His love, grace and forgiveness so we can give it away to other people who don’t deserve it either. There are no small sins or big sins – there is remaining in Christ Jesus in fellowship with the Holy Spirit – or not. Just because the Lord does not shout at us to stop behaving like a three year old, that does not mean He is winking at the way we treat other people! We can’t blame Mummy or Daddy or the State any more. We are responsible for our own responses and the way we treat others. 

Personally, I have to repent, and backtrack all the time because my own unresolved childish responses can get in the way. But we are destined for far more – so we cannot get stuck in the past: Ephesians 4:13, NIV: ‘… until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Let us not let our earlier bumpy life catch us up in childish responses that prevent us from going on into why we are still here on earth! 👋🏻

P 2133 We do not have to look the same to serve Him.

/ DVH

I Corinthians 12:4-6 “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” These verses help us to understand that God’s gifts in action do not have to look the same. Just because your church does not do stuff the same way mine does, it does not mean what happens is not the Holy Spirit and your group of believers is not being led by Him. This whole thing works by faith – your faith may manifest itself differently than mine.

At the same time, I think we need to teach new believers how to individually hear Him and then supervise them and prayerfully instruct them. This step needs to come before teaching people how to use their God-given gifts. Teaching people how to listen, is about activating that person’s faith so they can hear Him for themselves and follow Him consistently. It’s called making disciples, not just cultivating spiritual gifts. Each individual in the body of Christ needs to have Godly character, and that takes time, patience and someone willing to encourage the person as well as correct them.

The Lord Jesus Christ wants to activate His army. We can go to this bible school and that one  – a good thing to do BTW… but if you are learning and not doing, then whatever you are studying is not doing you a penny-worth of good. Christianity doesn’t need more information, we need to start acting on the info we’ve already been given! Use it or lose it! We have enough Christians right now, out there in this world, to change and challenge everything around us, by simply loving our neighbour as ourselves.

It is clear that the Lord does not want us to be ignorant about the Holy Spirit’s gifts. However, just because what we do to contribute does not look like what someone else does, it does not negate the gift He gave us. What matters is obeying what He tells us to do, not just the gift. The real thing to watch out for is “Who is being glorified?”For years I was so intimidated by what the Lord gave me to do, I almost wore an invisibility cloak! I felt judged when I did what He said because it did not look the way other people’s gifts did. I had no revelation about the bigness of our God. Practically everybody mentioned in the Old Testament, was not normal by human standards – yet God chose these people to manifest His loving care and correction to others.

When we serve and bless others with what God has given us, it opens the door to the supernatural, however the supernatural is not always startling. Read the Gospels again. Jesus did some stuff other people didn’t even notice! We don’t have to be famous to be effective. We were ALL given something supernatural to share with others, but not all of us will be seen. We must appreciate that the size of the spiritual contribution does not matter – because if you butter buns and do it because the Lord told you to do it, then somebody is bound to be touched by Him and blessed! 

It is so sad that the Body of Christ has a bunch of ambulance chasers who only know how to watch and they do not know how to participate. My advice in any kind of difficulty is this – YOU pray and do what He tells you to do.  If it happens to be your enemy lying on the ground – then all the better! The Lord Jesus spoke to the entire body when He said: “GO! Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons …” That won’t happen if we all just stand around the sick person waiting for the pastor to be free.

Meanwhile, there is NO ongoing value in looking at what Brother Wilbur does and trying to pray like him because the way he prays seems successful. Instead, ask the Lord, each time – “How do YOU want ME to do this?” The Holy Spirit does not want clones – He wants the many-sided wisdom of God to be displayed in front of this world. We are each a tiny facet of that beautiful wisdom. Glory! What a privilege. 🙌 Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:14–16.)  Meanwhile, no wonder this world seems to be circling the drain – most of us have gone and hidden our particular light under a basket!

Staying in relationship with people is also important – first with the Lord, and then with others. The bible does not say it is OK to be in fellowship with Him and ignore the rest of the world … or even worse … be mad at so many people you can’t count them. Jesus Christ so identified with mankind that if we are mad at them  – we are mad at Him! Our personal faith can make a huge difference in someone else’s life when we choose to love them, as we are led by the Holy Spirit. “Each believer is given continuous revelation by the Holy Spirit to benefit not just himself but all…”“…Remember, it is the same Holy Spirit Who distributes, activates and operates these different gifts as He chooses for each believer.” 1 Corinthians 12:7,11. TPT 

The most important thing we can ask ourselves about whatever our gifts are … is this love? It doesn’t matter if my gift does not work like yours, what matters is this: is it my aim to be led by Him and demonstrate the love of God without prejudice or partiality, wherever I go? Our faith needs to be activated and used for the benefit of others. We have no excuse. The bible clearly says we do not have to look the same to be a part of what HE is doing. 👋🏻 

P 2132 Reading the bible leads to faith in action.

/ DVH

The Word of God, without His mercy and grace upon it becomes legalistic. John 1:17, ESV: ‘For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Lord Jesus didn’t change the commandments, instead His life, death and resurrection introduced Almighty God’s GRACE into His truth.

I don’t know if you have thought about this or not, but Jesus took the ten commandments and virtually made them impossible – without the Spirit of the Living God helping us. The Lord made rote obedience harder.

Listen to this in: Matthew 5:22, Jesus is speaking … KJV: “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Of course this verse doesn’t apply to anyone out there in blog land – none of US are ever unreasonable, and we never get mad at other people and call them an idiot… well … maybe … not that often, anyway! 😂 Me neither.  I am not going to offer you any sort of personal explanation, interpretation or application for this verse BTW … it’s in my how the heck do I do that (?) file … see below. BUT, I would like to point out the thing that jumped out at me today – the words – ‘danger of.’  Yeah. Some people find that getting mad means reaching for a baseball bat, and I can see that ending very badly. But I still need to apply that verse to me – so feel free to pray for me. Thank you!

Here’s my advice: never ever give up on understanding anything in the bible. If you don’t ‘get’ it, and you can’t figure out how to action it – then put it down, and take the time to go back to it later and ask Him to help you. I have a lot of things in my I-have-no-clue-how-to-action-this file. But just because I don’t know what to do with some of my automatic bad tempered responses, that does not excuse me from pursuing the answer. Instead I pray then go back and reread them, and I remind the Lord that I still don’t get it. In my opinion the Lord loves it when we follow things up.  

I am currently wading through 1 Corinthians. The thing is – I actually don’t need these verses explained to me, I can read English, I simply need to hear His voice in them. I need a plan of action! I wait for Him to speak, but I don’t excuse myself from obeying if I don’t know what to do about it. I want to change, and I’ve come to understand that God Himself has a WAY for me through the temptation to avoid losing my temper. I need to be changed from the inside out – which takes time and patience from everyone around me. We can all analyse the words but that is not what will change our behaviour – our behaviour changes when we have a plan of activation from HIM.

I don’t want to be surprised by any ugly stuff coming out of me when I am under pressure, because that means that things that have only been changed on the surface of my life. Agreeing with the bible, leads to surface change. However, I badly need my heart to be changed. The new attitudes and actions that the bible talks about need to become so much a part of me that I don’t react to stuff anymore, now I respond to it instead. As you know, I recommend doing what it says because reading it is one thing, and memorising it is another, but I’ve found doing what it says engages my whole body, and that forms a bigger memory cue than just reading it or remembering the words. 

Sometimes I am doing something else when the Lord reminds me about whatever I’ve read that day. He talks to me about what I said or did, and then He reminds me about what He said or did about that subject, in the book. Then I can see the contrast for myself. I must be honest with you … I would love to tell you that I smile and jump up and immediately obey whatever He tells me – but the truth is – I need Him to take what He said and show me how it works in the situation in front of me – otherwise I am stuck. Honesty and humility with other people is the only manageable way to deal with being stuck.”I’m sorry” is a part of the process not the end result.

I need guidance. Actually, I need HIS guidance! I need Him to take that “apple of gold” He just highlighted to me, and have Him help me to put it “into a setting of silver.” Because I want to know to how respond to His word and act in faith on it. A Christian book will tell me how it worked for someone else – but, I want to know how it works for ME in my life. When it comes to relationships, most of the time He tells me to fix things … now! This does not always enchant or delight me. 😶 Most of the time it does not even suit me! Obedience is always costly – humbling yourself when you do not think you are wrong costs even more! 

The Lord told me years ago: “If you let Me correct you, you will hear Me when I direct you.” If we let Him speak to the sin in our lives and act upon what He says in faith, we will hear Him more clearly. People often ask me: ”How do you hear the Holy Spirit?” I obey His corrections. When He corrects me, He is showing me HE LOVES ME. However, I don’t always instantly, passionately fall in love with what He tells me to do! Most of the time I have to humble myself, but the bible says that going after humility means I am on the right road. When I feel resistant to this process, I’ve learnt to do whatever He tells me to do, despite my feelings. I have scripture to back that one up BTW.  Read about the two sons in Matthew 21. It’s a real eye-opener. 

When we digest the bible, it is like eating our food with the chef in the room. The Holy Spirit has prepared that daily bread with us in mind, and He knows what we need to hear. He wrote this book and despite the 724 translations of the entire book and 1617 translations of the New Testament – we all still need a Personal Translator. He will daily apply what it says into our lives so we can obey Him. Reading the bible and applying what it says means we will start using our faith, every single day. 👋🏻

P 2131 God is our ever-present help.

/ DVH

Psalm 77:1-I2  “I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. I remembered You, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak…”

This person is so troubled that they can’t speak or sleep, simply because they are in great pain. Even thinking about the Lord doesn’t help how they feel, and when He doesn’t answer – that pain and anguish gets worse! It overrides all the other good things in someone’s life and demands our full attention. However, the next part of this Psalm is where the writer starts to turn their focus around, because they start to meditate on what they personally know and remember about the Lord. and what He has already done for them. Our background, and testimonies of His Grace in other circumstances, are an important part of making it through any new hardship and difficulties. David remembered he’d killed a lion and a bear before he ever tackled Goliath! 

Back to the Psalm: “I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: “Will the Lord reject forever? Will He never show His favour again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?…”  

When our pain and suffering overwhelm us, we can easily end up asking questions like these. I’ve been there!! Most of us have asked the Lord at some time or other: ”Don’t You CARE?” When the wild sea of our circumstances means we think our boat might sink – (Matthew 8:23-28) – that’s the time to cry out for help. Those men in that sinking boat woke Jesus up! But on the plus side the disciples knew exactly where to go when the world was overwhelming them. Because this person wrote this we can see that hard circumstances can come between us and what we believe, and our peace of mind. That is when we find out what is true faith and what is wish faith.

In the next part of this Psalm we can see that the person’s experiences from their past start to help sustain them. They start drawing on those things about God that they already know to be true. This does not mean that they are not still struggling with what is going on, but they return to what they know and remember about Who the Lord Jesus is.  HIS CHARACTER AND REPUTATION.

“…Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord;  yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago. I will consider all Your work and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.”

Remembering what the Lord has already done gives us something substantial to stand on in the middle of any current difficulties.The thing I love about this Psalm is that we can see that this person complains. I mean to hear some people speak, it is as if you are committing the ultimate sin when you can’t cope under terrible circumstances. Rhubarb. We cannot lie our way out of pain … just Who do we think we are trying to fool – the One Who knows everything?? 😶 Fortunately this Psalmist knows where to go with His pain. He goes to God!  

It is far better to get alone with God and tell Him what is going on in your life and talk about how you are coping … or not. It is also quite normal to share with another person, as well.  But choose that person carefully, it can be even more heartbreaking to find that the someone you have confided your deepest fears and feelings to, has betrayed you by passing that info on. As helpers, we must remember that whatever we are told privately, needs to become a subject for prayer – or giving aid as the Lord leads us. 

I sincerely believe all of us go through dark nights of the soul. Sometimes it is because of our circumstances, as well as the lack of relief when we feel we need it. In those days, weeks, whatever .. etc!… I’ve wandered around my house saying things like this to my self: “My Heavenly Father’s knows my frame. He knew this would happen, and if He has allowed it, then He knows He and I can get through it. Please help me find the way through it Lord!” Amen. On really bad health days I simply say: “God’s got this and He’s got me!” 

I’ve gained confidence in the Lord’s Character from reading about how the Lord Jesus interacts with other people who are just like us. He was incredibly kind to the sick, sinful and suffering. The truly incredible wonderful thing about our God is we don’t have to pray long arduous prayers to get His attention. Jesus is standing right there, beside our Father, praying for us with personal knowledge of our humanity. That is what ever-present help looks like! 👋🏻 

P 2130 Follow me, I know the Way out!

/ DVH

“This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out.”A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you. Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.”Then a minister comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Mate, I’m down in this hole can you help me out?’ The minister writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. ”Then a friend walks by, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.'” 

I imagine that you can see that similarities between my anecdote from an episode of “West Wing” years and years ago, and the Good Samaritan. Luke (10:25-37.) “(Jesus) answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 

A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[ and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

The similarities between my anecdote, from the series, West Wing, years ago, and the story told in the bible are obvious. Meanwhile the good Samaritan does more than jump in the hole – he utterly engages in the solution. But I wanted to repeat that other story here, because I believe it points to something worth remembering. Simply telling people that Jesus is the solution to their pain and suffering is inadequate. However, jumping into the ‘holes’ in their lives as He leads you, and letting Him use you to guide others out, is called engagement in the process. Anybody can talk – but caring enough to help is the real point and even a Hollywood scriptwriter recognises that! 

Meanwhile, it is also easy for US to fall into a hole and get stuck. Some times our best stories and testimonies are born out of the pain of abject failure. IE: We have failed Jesus or one of His/our precious brothers and sisters. At the time of our failure it seemed that things could never be redeemed, and we were, or maybe we think we still are, doomed to live with that failure. Jesus Christ was rejected for our sakes when He did nothing wrong. We do not have to face our personal failures alone – we are now part of a family – who can pray we will find our way out of the situation, with His help.

In some circumstances you may need to start by forgiving yourself, plus avoid blaming others, and take responsibility for whatever you did. Then ask for forgiveness from other people as well. Our God is much bigger than the sinful stupid things we may have done. Jesus Christ made Himself NO-ONE in order to save this world’s ‘so called’ someones. Some of our finest testimonies are born from facing worse case scenarios and being delivered by the Lord, Who is SomeOne greater, more forgiving, loving and powerful than we are. To do that we will need eyes to see Him at work, even if it seems like nothing is happening. Plus the faith to keep believing.

The best person to talk to someone who is stuck in a hole, is the person who has been in one themselves … sometimes of their own making … and God Himself got them out. We dare not ever forget that our story is always a Redemption story. When we get to heaven people will not be praising US for our clever solutions, they will praise Almighty God and the Lamb forever for what They did in our lives. We may like what we believe to sound and look like a success story, but the truth is – it is His success story – not ours. We miss the whole point if we only repeat the things that testify to how we responded well, or we used our faith etc. etc. That is when the Lord becomes an add-on, not the feature. Our stories and testimonies need to be about how HE, our God, turned things around. To cultivate this kind of attitude, we need to be able to see Him at work in any situation, no matter how dire it is. 

Our job is to tell others that we know the way out – we are here to be His hands and feet, so we can help others escape from the holes of this life. We are not the way out, but we know the One Who is.  Humility and service are the way forward – serving and helping others who are inside, and outside our churches. His love is never wasted, even if the person we give it to does not understand what they have been given. Finally we need to realise that … I am never ever going to be ‘all that’ … but I know SomeOne Who is ‘all that” and He loves me passionately. I have His favour. That means I can help, as well as pray for someone else.  👋🏻 

P 2129 Tick tock.

/ DVH

Ephesians 3:14-21 TPT “So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that He would unveil within YOU the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” 

I think these verses are a fantastic prayer to pray for yourself and all the people around you. This is how we need to live – when things are good, as well as bad. We all live on the other side of the cross. Even if we don’t know Him yet, we can ask the Lord Jesus to reveal Himself to us. He has already given this world everything – total forgiveness, plus He poured out eternal His love, and He gave us the power to learn about Him and walk with Him. Our God hasn’t left mankind alone. The Holy Spirit is God and He is here. He came and He never left! And our task is to cherish His Presence and follow Him – the same way Jesus’ disciples followed Him. Using our faith.

You know, the disciples didn’t go on holidays, or have a slouching-about-the-house-day, in those three and a half years of intense ministry? They simply walked and talked with Jesus, each other, and anyone else who needed something. It takes faith to do that when the immediate stuff of this world presses in on us. These men woke up with Him, they ate with Him, they walked dusty roads following Him. I don’t think we can begin to understand the blessing of living, walking and talking with Jesus Christ, every single day. Christianity does not work part-time. We need to constantly use our faith for something else other than excusing our bad behaviour.

Back to Ephesians: “Then, by CONSTANTLY using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. THEN you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!”  WOW!

There is one thing we need to know above everything else – our Heavenly Father is looking for a resting place – a habitation – and He wants US to be that place. God is holy and we are not.  But Jesus Christ made this utterly impossible thing – walking and talking with God Himself –  possible for us, in our lives, before we were ever born. I cannot give anyone some formulaic system on how to walk with Jesus minute by minute. My only solution is to make Him the centre of everything you know, and then go out and live for others while we are doing that. This means simple things like – in a conversation with someone else – what they have to say is more important than what we have to say! We need to intentionally reverse the selfish polarity that is dominating this world – and that has to be done prayerfully, and on purpose, through our own choices.

Here is the last bit today: “Never doubt God’s mighty power TO WORK IN YOU and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energises you. Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen!”  

We cannot know what we have been given, unless we make an effort for ourselves to find out and seek Him. Somebody else can’t give this to us – even the most anointed man or woman has to choose to pray when they have other matters pressing in on them. We need to ask for a revelation of the importance of our lives for His kingdom’s sake. Otherwise spiritual things just stay as words on a page, and eventually they become interesting information.  

But the reality is, we are all destined to be citizens of heaven, our names are written in His book, the book of life, forever. How sad it would be if we won some super prize in a lottery and we didn’t go to pick up the prize! JESUS IS OUR PRIZE – His nearness from day to day is our greatest blessing, whether we feel like it or not. And most days, at my house, I live with ‘OR NOT.’ We must pray for His power to overcome the seemingly unimportant every day things that hold us back from living our Christian lives in victory!

Everything depends on how you look at this life you have been given and what you cherish most. Whatever we make our priority, will fill our vision. I love that old hymn, “Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart…” If living this life from day to day, is all about finding the rent, going to work, or paying the mortgage, and raising our kids then that will be the main priority of our lives. Ask the Lord to help you to focus on Him above everything else. satan does not have to corrupt us in order to render us useless, and stop us daily living in God’s kingdom. he just needs to lull us off to sleep with our everyday humdrum lives, lurching from one financial or moral temptation to another.  

The Lord has some people in this world, who dearly love Him yet they live under a constant barrage of fear and danger, as well as a huge need for food and shelter. They don’t have a problem focussing on God! He fills their thoughts. Our biggest danger in the Western world is apathy and human busy-ness.  It takes focus to walk with Him and live our lives acknowledging His ways, because this life we live from day to day, crowds our thoughts of Christ and what He did for us … OUT. If not now, then when? Tick tock. ⏰ 👋🏻

P 2128 ‘God won’t mind.’

/ DVH

1 Corinthians 10:23&24 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”… a-n-d … that’s a big fat full stop there!

When we give our life to the Lord, our lives are destined to immediately change. We do not have to live like everyone else anymore, because, now, the Holy Spirit lives IN us. Now, we need to practice obedience to the Lord’s ways and this is how we learn to LET His Presence guide us. Because of what He did for us, we live for the benefit of others, and we regard this life’s external trappings the same way the Lord Jesus Himself sees it. Most human beings see things as important. People are more important than anything else to the Lord, that’s why He slept outside and travelled long distances, to see, teach and help people.

However, now we are free that does not mean we can do whatever we like and forget the consequences. We’ve simply been set free from the captivity of sin and selfishness. BTW that’s what the book of Romans takes a really long time to say!  We are no longer sin’s captive because of the reality of His salvation in our lives. Now the Holy Spirit in us, teaches us which way to go … through circumstances, His quiet voice, and the bible. BUT HE WILL NOT MAKE US OBEY. ⬅ That bit right there is essential information.

And now here’s my hot tip:  Christians have spent a whole lotta years doing what we want, or pleasing someone else other than the Lord, so along the way, we’ve picked up a lot of nasty habits and thought patterns. That’s what transformation is all about, learning to say no to what probably seems OK or right to us, and yes to what He says about what He wants … IN THE BOOK.

Now we have the power within us to walk away from the things that will trip us up. However, the Holy Spirit will not take over – instead He helps us walk, as we ask Him for His help … step by step, forward into freedom. That’s where the revelation of freedom grows from a theory, into a new way to live. And we practice obedience. Father God will not make us do anything because real, internal transformation comes from volunteering for change.  I just want to say one little thing about this process from my own personal observation. Sometimes our needs can drive us along, and those needs can be very primal. So we can quite easily feel like we don’t have a choice, because whatever we are battling has been in charge for a very long time. Sometimes those things have become strongholds.

In our journey with other Christians, we are bound to meet people who fight this kind of battle the same way Joshua did at Jericho. They sing, pray, or speak to the wall that is holding them captive and it falls down. This is a good time to remember, that Joshua obeyed the Lord’s instructions … to the letter. And what the Israelites did was obey instructions from their leader. However, the people who praise God about the pre-existing walls in their lives, are often the exception. Many many MANY other times Joshua and the Israelites had to wade in and fight! Most of the stronghold battles I have fought in my life, have been about wading in and fighting spiritually.

“For although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energised with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide. We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raise up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 TPT.

Fighting means I’ve learnt to stand on whatever bible verse the Lord gave me and insist that His word is bigger than my logic or feelings. I use that sword of the Spirit He gave me, whenever the temptation to doubt the Lord crops up and then I demand that the enemy leave me alone. The whole Garesene demonic incident holds another big clue about fighting the enemy and forcing him to leave. The enemy in the demoniac man negotiated with the Lord Jesus, because the demons did not want to leave the man – the Holy Spirit will personally give us strategies.

It is useful to know that some things we fight against are stubborn, but at the same time, they probably make us feel comfortable because we are familiar with them. We need to learn to insist, despite how we feel. Always remembering that our new AIM for Godliness and purity is far superior to staying in the same old pig pen, eating satan’s slops. The Lord has set a table before us in the presence of our enemies… it’s time to access that table and tell the enemy to take a hike!

We simply cannot afford to continue to make excuses for our own bad attitudes and behaviour. We have to start calling it sin and disobedience. And sometimes we need to hear that in our own ears, from out of our own mouth! I believe we cannot afford to allow anything in our hearts that Jesus died to set us free from. We also can’t comfort ourselves with the thought that God understands, and He won’t mind. Those thoughts will keep us in a COMA – out of touch with the real world around us, and pacified by platitudes that have no power. We all need our faith to work, and we learn how to use it by fighting the enemy within and without. 👋🏻

“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life.” Ephesians 3:17 

P 2127 The third side!

/ DVH

Joshua 5:13 “Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  As you can see even Joshua was confused about exactly who was on WHAT side – it can happen to anyone.

That angel/person standing in front of Joshua did actually have a sword and Joshua was a fightin’/praying man ever ready to spring into action. Meanwhile, at that particular moment he desperately needed to know who was on his side and who he was supposed to fight! We can learn a great lesson from good old Joshua. Sometimes, as Jesus Himself told us: “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.”  The people we love the most, have the inside track to our hearts, and therefore they can hurt us like no-one else can … by jumping up and down on our hearts! We need God’s wisdom to pick our moments.

The bible mentions enemies many times and it is fair to say that we could easily have people in our lives who hate us … accidentally, or, on purpose! Even family etc. and this can cause what I call a spiritual compound fracture. These compound fractures can be hard to heal. The best healing method ever, is the oil of the Holy Spirit poured in, and then ‘ask, and keep on asking ‘(!) for God’s gift of supernatural love for the perpetrator. When people are mean, I’ve found that you can run out of human love pretty quickly! I’d start by blessing the people responsible for deeply wounding you and I wouldn’t stop … until they do!

We need to reconcile in our hearts that we also learn about God’s love, desires, and purposes, as well as stuff about ourselves, because of difficult people. Difficult people and their criticism hold up a mirror and show us what’s really on the inside. Well, goodie goodie gumdrops! 🍬The Lord Himself does not take sides, like Joshua shows us, because … HE IS ON HIS OWN SIDE. Ergo, we need to find His side and stay there! Personally whether I am right or wrong, I just say ‘sorry’ – it saves time. Sometimes, I don’t even wait to calm down. Then I deal with my feelings with Him afterward. He can fix anything even my stinky attitudes.

After I bawl my eyes out for a while and I forgive whoever it is … PS hubby does that way faster than I do and that is sooooo annoying! 😶 Then I pray and ask the Lord if there was any truth in the other person’s accusation. That’s when He very gently takes my tightly clenched fist – which was totally ready to punch them on the nose 😱  …and He explains that I am not perfected, just yet … And maybe we could fix what the other person brought up? I often have to think about that for a while. 🙄 Our God corrects us because He loves us dearly, and that right there … is an even bigger thought!  Whatever! Enemies are really useful people. They keep us on our spiritual toes. When someone is attacking you, suddenly a whole lot of things become clearer. And they often expose the very things inside us that we are hiding from ourselves.

The sad fact is that the people who act like enemies probably don’t  understand us, or they have some preconceived idea of what we should be like. They think they have their own very good reasons. If we do not take God’s side, His POV, in these situations … we can end up polarising our own thoughts, to prove to ourselves, that our ideas, actions, attitudes are right, and the other person is wrong! Here is a word of caution, remember, we can’t hear the Lord very well, when we are justifying ourselves. Peace is not a feeling – He is a Person. A Person Who will leave when we start justifying ourselves and judging others. When He leaves, wisdom and insight leave with Him.

Moving on.. the Apostle Paul had something he called “a thorn in his flesh,” Was he sick or disabled etc? I dunno! I actually think a person, or even a people group, can fit into the thorn in the flesh category too. After all people can hate others because of their nationalities – like anybody can help where we were born!? 😳 We simply must put aside the kind of thinking that categorises people into good people and bad people, and see ourselves, as well as others, as human beings who all need salvation and redemption! Love doesn’t categorise – it simply follows the Lord through the circumstances – to achieve HIS desired outcome.

His desired outcome does not always mean we will always have happy families or untroubled friendships etc. However, having people who don’t like us, provides us with an opportunity to see ourselves as others see us, and to check with the Lord about what to do with all that info! Difficult people reveal US to ourselves far more clearly than anything else and they do it by annoying the living daylights out of us!  🥳 yay. 

I want to conclude today by talking about Jonah. He is my go-to-guy about practically everything. I love THAT guy. He was so-oo-oo honest with God! The Lord tells him to go to Ninevah … and Jonah, with no hesitation, says: ‘no!’ He’s God’s prophet and he doesn’t even pray about it! Then he runs away in the opposite direction just to make his point. Meanwhile hiding from GOD in the bottom of a ship seems pretty D.U.M.B. stupid. 😳 But I adore the way the Lord used this man’s intentional disobedience to save a boatload of unredeemed sailors. THAT’S THE KIND OF GOD WE SERVE.

Which kind of proves my point today, we never know what the Lord will teach us about ourselves, through the people we don’t like. Or even what He will do for others while we are learning! His POV is the third side! 👋🏻

P 2126 No loop-holes in His book.

/ DVH

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

One of the biggest and most important battles we face, daily, is the battle between our flesh and yielding to the Holy Spirit. The thing is, every single day, what will win – His way or ours? Do we give in to what makes us comfortable, or what HE wants?  When it comes right down to it, the flesh wants to ‘take it easy,’  But Jesus said this to His disciples at a crucial moment: ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.“ (Matthew 26 41) We can actively strengthen our spirits and master our own flesh, with His help, so we can run well. He asked these eleven men to pray for Him while satan was tempting Him – a-n-d … they all fell asleep. Ho-hum! Nothing new under the sun!

I’m not sure any of us are as fit for this race as we might hope we are! It’s time to get ourselves out on the track and start jogging up and down, eyeballing what lies in front of us. Our aim is to be the best version of ourselves with His help! The Body of Christ is fighting against the habits and thoughts of a lifetime, while we are hopefully learning to lean on the Holy Spirit. He is the only Person jogging alongside us in this race, and He is so encouraging. If we fall down, He helps us up. If we get tired, He refreshes us through a word from His book. If we despair, He comforts us.  How blessed are we? 🙌

What Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 9 is that the moment we gave our lives to the Lord, we entered a stadium, just like an Olympic athlete. And everybody up in heaven is cheering for us to complete our individual races. Sadly, sometimes I think the body of Christ is sitting down on the track, catching up on reading Facebook, or Instagram, or their Twitter account and scrolling or swiping instead! Today, we have a new form of sleep, we are asleep, awake – and preoccupied with stuff that does not build up His kingdom. 

I’m starting to believe that the people in 3rd world countries are w-a-y better off than we are. They don’t have iPhones, or iPads, or whatever, to distract them. They are too busy dodging bullets and/or missiles and looking for food and water! I think we have way too much stuff around us in the West, that distracts us from the race, from day to day. And we are hiding ourselves from the things we don’t like or don’t want to change about us, using electronic devices. It is a mistake to forfeit the time we have been given on things that are not eternally beneficial.

The way to discover His will for each of our lives is described in Romans. Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”  When we start to think like He does, we begin our training for this race, and this helps us understand what He wants from each one of us. Sadly the church has become enamoured with piling up knowledge, instead of putting what we’ve learnt into learning how to run. We cannot afford to waste our running time, otherwise, instead of pressing on, we can be distracted into permanently opting out. Knowledge is not the same as running the race.

People are dying right now and they don’t have access to bible or a podcast. Who will tell them about a God Who died to give them a new life, filled with hope and purpose, no matter how brief their lives here may be? In most Christian homes today, parents have stopped sitting down with their kids teaching them about what God thinks and wants. Why? It is not popular – it is not fun. So where will the next generation of missionaries, preachers, teachers etc. come from? What have we taught the next generation of witnesses? We have inadvertently fostered the idea in our kids that this life is not mean to be difficult, so now they have learnt to avoid difficulties – instead of how to get through them with His help. I believe it is called safety-ism.

This life is not meant to be fun. But we while away the precious hours given to us by God, doing nothing but entertaining ourselves and earning a living – so we can buy better stuff. 😱 In this country, we have a shortage of nurses, doctors, policemen, ambulance drivers, teachers, farmers etc. Those jobs are hard work, difficult to do and definitely NOT fun. But our kids just want to be the best singer, or get on TV, or invent some gizmo that will make them rich and famous. What about serving one another? Do you have to ask your kids to help you, or do they pay attention to what is actually going on around them? 

I read a prophetic word a while ago that said that the next wave of evangelists, missionaries etc. is going to come out of Africa and poorer countries. These people know this life is not easy. They’ve learnt that the hard way, and they expect to have to die for what they believe. Food for thought. 👋🏻